Nursing bottle holder



April 7, 1959 B. R. WILLIAMS ETAL NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Filed April 9, 1956 INVENTORS 55 Try R. W/L L/AMS LUC/LE 5. 5M L 413v W N X United States Patent NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER I Betty R. Williams and Lucile s. Bull, Los Angeles, Calif Application April 9, 1956, Serial No. 577,162 2 Claims. (21. 248-102 This invention relates to a holder for nursing bottles.

Such holders for this purpose that have been provided heretofore contemplated use while the nursing infant was in its crib, bassinet or carriage, such prior holders usually being placed alongside the infant and in an angular position to hold a nursing bottle in dispensing position. The infants head necessarily was turned to the side so its mouth would be in position to receive the bottle.

These prior holders had, among others, two major faults: if the infant momentarily released the bottle, it was problematical whether it would re-achieve feeding engagement; and the infant did not have the psychologically important intimacy of physical contact with the mother. The above does not take into account the likelihood of the holders, if not fastened in place, upsetting or, at least, moving out of feeding position.

In order to obviate the above and other faults of prior nursing bottle holders, an object of this invention is to provide a holder that is particularly adapted to be supported on the chest or the clothes covering the chest of a nursing infant while held in the arms of its mother or other person, and in position to be retained by a finger or fingers of the hand of such person in the crook of which the infant is cradled. Thus, the invention is characterized by convenience as well as eliminating the mentioned faults, since the same arm and hand may both hold the infant and the holder, leaving the other arm and hand free for such functions as eating and drinking.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle holder of the character contemplated that is angularly adjustable, the adjustment being pivotal and also enabling moving the bottle between nursing and non-nursing positions without disturbing the operative position of the holder.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawing merely shows and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing the present nursing bottle holder in operative position.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is an end view, partly in section.

Fig. 4 is a partial plan view of the base of the holder.

The holder that is illustrated comprises, generally, a support base 5, a pivot bracket 6 preferably integrally carried by said base, and a bottle clamp 7 mounted on the bracket. The drawing shows a nursing bottle 8 as 11% movably mounted in the clamp 7.

2,880,950 Patented Apr. 7, 1959 The support base 5 preferably comprises a transversely curved sheet metal or plastic member 9 that, for reasons of sanitation and other reasons, may be enclosed in a cover 10 that is advantageously made of fabric but may be made of any suitable washable material. Such cover 10 may be omitted if the bracket 6 is separately formed and is affixed to the member 9 by welds, rivets, adhesive, etc., according to the material from which made. When used, the cover 10 serves to so enclose member 9 as to conceal openings that may result from integral forming of bracket 6 or lightening openings, as shown at 11.

In any case, the base 5 has the transversely curved form, above mentioned, so that it will generally conform to and be stable upon an infants chest or the blankets or clothes covering said chest. It is preferred to provide said base 5 with the form, in plan, of an isosceles trapezoid, although the smaller end 12 of said base may be concavely curved to better clear the chin of the infant in the event that the base is placed close up to the infants head.

The bracket 6 is preferably located nearer the end 12 than the opposite wider end 13 and may comprise a pair of ears 14 transversely spaced to receive clamp 7. In this case, said ears comprise upper extensions of bracket walls 15 and, together with said walls, are sheared from the base member 9 to leave the opening 16. As mentioned, cover 10 conceals said opening. Said ears are provided with aligned holes that receive a pivot 17 for the clamp 7. Said pivot 17 being transverse, it will be clear that said clamp is adapted to rock thereon in a plane longitudinal to the support base and normal to the general plane thereof.

The clamp 7 may be variously formed and is here shown as a pair of oppositely formed bottle-gripping portions 18 that comprise integral ends of a channel-folded middle portion 19 that is disposed between the pivot ears 14 and centrally apertured for the pivot 17. The portions 18, together, extend through more than of curvature, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the same are preferably sufficiently resilient to enable endwise insertion of a bottle 8 and yet insuring frictional gripping engagement with said bottle.

The pivot may be tightened to effect a frictional engagement between the ears 14 and the clamp 7 so that the latter and the bottle gripped thereby may be placed at any desired angle and will maintain said angle. By loosening said pivot, the bottle will have two positions: one tilted back with the nipple thereof up; and the other titled forwardly with the nipple in position to be accepted by the infant on whose chest the holder is placed.

The support base may be made formable so that the curvature can be changed, as desired, for the best stability in use. From Fig. 1, it will be seen how a finger or the fingers of the hand on the arm cradling the infant may easily be brought into position to hold the base in initially located position.

While the forgoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out our invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A nursing bottle holder comprising a base of isosceles trapezoidal form and of a maximum transverse size to span across the chest and terminating short of the sides of the infant, said base being transversely curved to have stable engagement with the infant and being made of a formable and thin metal sheet that is retentive of the transverse curvature manually imparted thereto, a cavely curved to clear the chin of the infant using the bracket extending upwardly from the convex outer side holder, thereby enabling application of the holder in close of the base sheet adjacent to the smaller end of the adjacency to the head of said infant.

tra-pgzmdal a Washable mmovable fabnc cover References Cited in the file of this patent pletely enclosing the base a d formed to have a slit 5 through which said bracket outwardly extends, and a UNITED STATES PATENTS bottle clamp pivotally carried by the bracket and mov- 1,287,125 Smith Dec. 10, 1918 able on its pivot in a plane transverse to the general 1,883,437 Adams Oct. 18, 1932 plane of the bracket. 2,243,870 Klaus June 3, 1941 2 vA nursing bottle holder according to claim 1 in 10 2,552,844 Clinehens May 15, 1951 which the smaller end of the trapezoidal base is con- 2,596,009 Connor et al May 6, 1952 

